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Pasco middle school teacher on leave after burglary, criminal mischief charges

 
Published Nov. 1, 2014

PORT RICHEY — A Pasco County middle school teacher could lose her job after being arrested for the second time in a year.

Bayonet Point Middle School math teacher Pamela C. Guthrie, 33, was arrested at school Thursday morning after classes had begun on charges of burglary and criminal mischief. According to a Sheriff's Office report, Guthrie cut the screen door on her ex-boyfriend's Port Richey residence and entered without permission. When he called 911, Guthrie tried to take the phone away, the report states.

Guthrie was placed on paid administrative leave, pending a district investigation, and will be recommended for unpaid leave at Tuesday's School Board meeting. District officials plan to meet with Guthrie to determine what steps to take next.

"We are concerned when we have educators with multiple arrests," employee relations director Betsy Kuhn said.

Guthrie was arrested in February after authorities said she violated an injunction her ex-boyfriend had filed against her six days earlier. At the time, deputies reported, Guthrie showed up uninvited to her ex-boyfriend's home, where he was inside with his two children, and began beating on the doors and windows when he wouldn't let her in. When he went outside to ask her to leave, she chased him, first on foot, then in her car and tried to hit him twice. He called the Sheriff's Office.

In September 2013, the injunction states, Guthrie took a flat-head screwdriver to the paint job on her ex's car and punctured the seats. Kuhn said Guthrie was not dismissed at that time because she faced only misdemeanor charges.